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AT&T CEO: competition over iPhone 5 is ‘overblown’

AT&T’s Randall Stephenson recently responded to the possibility of Sprint getting a next-gen iPhone during the Goldman Sachs Communacopia conference. On top of describing the effects of new carriers adding the device to their lineup as “always overblown”, he went on to say “I’m very confident that we’ll do very well with” the new iPhone.

When talking about potential competition from Verizon and Sprint regarding the yet to be released iPhone 5, he had this to say:

“Anytime there’s another competitor launching Apple’s hit device, the expectations for what would happen to the carrier that had it before is overblown,” he continued, “The competitive dynamic will be no different than the last time.”

Stephenson touched on AT&T’s advantages over the competition as the only GSM provider of the iPhone in the US. While he didn’t flat out confirm an iPhone 5, he did apparently joke that Apple board member Al Gore had recently confirmed an October launch.

Talking about the T-Mobile acquisition, the CEO noted he remained confident and hoped the situation would be resolved with the U.S. Justice Department before the trial set for February 13th. Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam made his case regarding the acquisition clear yesterday.

Interestingly, Stephenson noted the addition of a new “significant and meaningful player” other than Apple and Google will bring new competition. We can’t help but assume he’s referring to new Windows devices.  He did note that he expects both Windows and BlackBerry devices to make an impact.

When all is said and done, the CEO concluded his estimates for 2012 look much the same as 2011:

“We do not anticipate any meaningful acceleration of growth”

(via CNET)

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Avatar for Jordan Kahn Jordan Kahn

Jordan writes about all things Apple as Senior Editor of 9to5Mac, & contributes to 9to5Google, 9to5Toys, & Electrek.co. He also co-authors 9to5Mac’s Logic Pros series.


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